The subject matter described herein relates to antenna systems. More particularly, the disclosure relates to antenna systems which can be used as a structural, load-bearing portion of a mobile platform and constructed to match an outer mold line of the area of the mobile platform into which the antenna system is integrated.
Present day mobile platforms, such as aircraft (manned and unmanned), spacecraft and even land vehicles, often require the use of an antenna aperture for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic wave signals. The antenna aperture is often provided in the form of a phased array antenna aperture having a plurality of antenna elements arranged in an X-Y grid-like arrangement on the mobile platform. The various components on which the radiating elements of the antenna are mounted add weight to the mobile platform. Often these components comprise aluminum blocks or other like substructures that add “parasitic” weight to the overall antenna aperture, but otherwise perform no function other than as a support structure for a portion of the antenna aperture. By the term “parasitic” it is meant weight that is associated with components of the antenna that are not directly necessary for transmitting or receiving operations.
An antenna array that is able to form a load bearing structure for a portion of a mobile platform would provide important advantages. For example, the number and nature of sensor functions capable of being implemented on the mobile platform could be increased significantly over conventional electronic antenna and sensor systems that require physical space within the mobile platform. Integrating the antenna into the structure of the mobile platform also eliminates less than desired effects on aerodynamics that may result when an antenna aperture is mounted on an exterior surface of a mobile platform. This could also eliminate the parasitic weight that would otherwise be present if the antenna aperture was formed as a distinct, independent component that required mounting on an interior or exterior surface of the mobile platform.
Thus, structural, load-bearing antenna arrays and methods to make the same may be desirable in aerospace applications and other communication applications.